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SAMBA+ 4.16.1 has just been released by SerNet. Packages for various SUSE and Red Hat platforms as well as for Debian GNU/Linux, Ubuntu and AIX are available now. This is the first stable SAMBA+ release of the new Samba 4.16 release series. Please make sure to test thoroughly before upgrading and read the release notes carefully! Details on upgrading can be found in the SAMBA+ HowTo collection.

The release notes, which contain information about changes and new features of the new major release, are available here:

   https://www.samba.org/samba/history/samba-4.16.0.html

A particular point to emphasize is the following:

• New samba-dcerpcd binary to provide DCERPC in the member server setup
  This novel development found its way into upstream Samba thanks to Volker Lendecke, long-time Samba team member and co-founder of SerNet. He has been working on this for a long time and with the creation of a new samba-dcerpcd binary he made it possible that DCERPC services can be used independently of smbd. This opens up new standalone usage scenarios for DCERPC outside the samba framework, e.g. samba-dcerpcd can be used with the Linux kernel SMB2 server ksmbd or other SMB2 server implementations.

Another important point:

• SSSD compatibility
  SAMBA+ 4.16 packages for Red Hat and SUSE based platforms can now be used in combination with the System Security Services Daemon (SSSD), even with SSSD as member of an Active Directory domain. Please note that SerNet still strongly recommends to not use SSSD on file server setups, since this has some limitations and complicates the server configuration.
  
  In this context additional RPM packages have been added and package dependencies changed. On usual setups the sernet-samba-common-private package will sernet-samba-common. In combination with SSSD sernet-samba-common-private requires Red Hat's or SUSE's samba-common package.
  
  The sernet-samba-python package has been renamed to sernet-samba-python3, which depends on sernet-samba-python3-private. Usual setups just require the new sernet-samba-python3-private package. If you are running your own or third party scripts, which make use of sernet-samba's Python modules, you can install the sernet-samba-python package to make the modules available in the standard (site-packages) library path.

The new packages also address the issues, which are listed in the Samba 4.16.1 release notes:

   https://www.samba.org/samba/history/samba-4.16.1.html

and the following additional issues:

• Bug 15050: smbclient no longer can connect to Azure
• Bug 14054: Kerberos Pre-Authentication updates badPwdCount for the 2 newest passwords in the history and results in ACCOUNT_LOCKED_OUT
• Bug 14125: As kerberos service/acceptor we may not accept tickets with our previous machine password 
• Bug 12907: pam_winbind with krb5_auth or wbinfo -K doesn't work for users of trusted domains with more than 1 hop between server and user realm

Gnome tracker support has been removed from Samba's MacOS Spotlight service. SerNet recommends to use the more scalable Elasticsearch backend. The content of the sernet-samba-spotlight package has been merged into the sernet-samba package.

With the new 4.16 release Samba 4.15 has been turned into the "maintenance mode" and Samba 4.14 into the "security fixes only mode". Samba 4.13 will not receive any updates beyond this point. The SAMBA+ 4.13 repositories will be disabled soon. Please update to a more recent version of SAMBA+. If you need assitance updating, have a look at our support services. 

As another choice mainly of interest for OEM, SerNet offers an on demand Long Term Support (LTS) option, prolonging the time span for security updates.

The Samba Team at SerNet has just released the SAMBA+ 4.15.7 packages. They are available for various SUSE and Red Hat platforms as well as for Debian GNU/Linux, Ubuntu and AIX.

The update addresses several issues, which are listed in the release notes for Samba 4.15.7.

SAMBA+ packages are available as software subscription. They can be purchased at the SAMBA+ shop, detailed information and prices are listed at https://shop.samba.plus. The subscriptions are managed at our platform OPOSSO (https://oposso.samba.plus). Users can activate their subscriptions here and manage access credentials. The new SAMBA+ packages are included in existing subscriptions.

From 31 May to 2 June 2022, SerNet will be hosting sambaXP for the 21st time – for the third time as a purely digital event. Another constant in this year's programme is a workshop by Stefan Kania. New is that the Samba expert and trainer will cover two topics at once: "Setting up GPOs with Samba" and "Disaster recovery of an Active Directory". A ticket for sambaXP is also free of charge this year, participation in the workshop can be booked independently. Tickets are available via the conference page at https://sambaxp.org.

Stefan Kania is, among other things, the author of the book "Samba 4: Das Handbuch für Administratoren" (Samba 4: The Manual for Administrators) and is a sought-after trainer for topics relating to Samba. He has been hosting the traditional workshop day for the sambaXP for many years. The participation in his workshop on 31 May 2022, 3:00 pm - 9:30 pm (CEST) costs 450.00 Euro.

Details about the contents of the workshop and everything needed for participation can also be found at https://sambaxp.org. It is also worth taking a look at the rest of the conference agenda: Numerous talks are planned for June, 1st & 2nd – each starting at 3 p.m. CEST – on topics such as "Samba in Containers & Kubernetes", Kerberos innovations, etc.

There will also be a number of presentations from the Samba team at SerNet GmbH:

• Volker Lendecke: Symlink races for dummies and how to deal with them
• Stefan Metzmacher: Kerberos/Authentication Updates in Samba
• Björn Jacke: Installing and running Samba on AIX
• Ralph Böhme: smbd, what's next?

The program for the 21st sambaXP from May 31 to June 2, 2022 is set. The Orga Committee has published the schedule for the event on the conference page at https://sambaxp.org. Tickets, which are free of charge, are also available there. The agenda is filled with exciting talks for developers and users.  Special thanks go to this year's sponsors Google, Microsoft and SerNet.

sambaXP will again be held purely virtually in 2022 in order to allow as many people as possible worldwide to participate. For this reason - and to take into account the different time zones - the presentations will each start at 3 pm (CEST).

The kick-off on May 31 belongs again to the traditional samba workshop by Stefan Kania. His tutorial (3 pm to 9:30 pm CEST) will cover the topics "Setting up GPOs with Samba" and "Disaster recovery of an Active Directory" at once. The actual conference will be opened by Jeremy Allison, chairman of sambaXP, and Ralph Böhme (team leader of SerNet's Samba team) on June 1st from 3 pm.

Talks from the Samba-Team at SerNet (as they appear in the program):

• Volker Lendecke: Symlink races for dummies and how to deal with them
• Stefan Metzmacher: Kerberos/Authentication Updates in Samba Stefan Metzmacher
• Björn Jacke: Installing and running Samba on AIX
• Ralph Böhme: smbd, what's next?

Detailed abstracts on all presentations can be found at https://sambaxp.org.

SAMBA+ 4.15.6 has just been released. Packages for various SUSE and Red Hat platforms as well as for Debian GNU/Linux, Ubuntu and AIX are available now.

These  updates address several issues, which are listed in the release notes for Samba 4.15.6.

Additionally the following issues are addressed in the SAMBA+ packages:

• Bug 14865 regression: uncached logon on RODC always fails once

The previous intermediate 4.15.5 releases addressed the following issues:

• Bug 14865: uncached logon on RODC always fails once
• Bug 14984: changing the machine password against an RODC likely destroys the domain join
• LDAP simple binds with non-cached users against RODCs (bugs 13879, 14641, 15001, 15003)
• AD replication performance improvements: Reduce the security descriptor propagation time after the initial replication

SAMBA+ packages are available as software subscription. They can be purchased at the SAMBA+ shop, detailed information and prices are listed at https://shop.samba.plus. The subscriptions are managed at our platform OPOSSO (https://oposso.samba.plus). Users can activate their subscriptions here and manage access credentials. The new SAMBA+ packages are included in existing subscriptions.